LATE NIGHT

Letterman grills Kim Kardashian on Kanye and Kris Humphries

One of the most effective weapons in Dave Letterman’s arsenal is his faux-naïve act. Unlike his rival Jay Leno, “The Late Show” host can be a relentless interrogator, but he often disguises his grilling with feigned obliviousness.

Case in point: Wednesday’s sit-down with Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, who were in town to promote their latest reality show, or maybe their new line of diet supplements, but really just themselves. Letterman dove right into the subject of Kim’s messy personal life by pretending not to know much about it at all.

“Now, you’re still married to the former husband, Kris Humphries?” he asked, sounding curious rather than judgmental. When Kim replied in the affirmative, Letterman went in for the kill: “Now, when are you going to wrap that up?”

“Well, I’m trying, and it’s a process. ... I’ve been trying for almost two years now, um, to wrap it up, but it’s, you know, it’s hard,” Kim said. (For the record, it’s been less than 15 months.)

Undeterred, Letterman pressed on, asking why Humphries wants an annulment rather than a divorce. Presumably, he knew the answer: Humpries claims he was duped into marrying Kim so that she could make a bazillion dollars off of their wedding.

But it was so much better to hear Kim say “He is suing me for an annulment based on the fact that I frauded him into marrying him for publicity.”

Kourtney managed to lob a zinger at Humphries -- “if she was going to do it for publicity, she’d pick someone that people knew” -- but the Q&A session wasn’t quite over yet.

Letterman also wanted to know about Kim’s current relationship with Kanye West, with whom -- in case you are one of the lucky five people on Earth who haven’t heard yet -- she is expecting her first child. The host seemed to take exception to Kim’s characterization of Kanye as “the funniest person” she knows.

“The last time I heard about him, he went up to Taylor Swift and he ruined the whole show,” Letterman said.

Kim explained that Kanye is simply “like, the most passionate person,” to which Letterman replied, “Well, he’s just a kid, isn’t he?”